


Is This U

by velvetjinx



Category: Black Panther (2018), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Humor, Memes, Shuri is awesome, i just love shuri okay, siblinghood, that’s it that’s the fic, wherein shuri pwns tony stark with her technology
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-02
Updated: 2018-03-02
Packaged: 2019-03-26 01:00:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13846731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/velvetjinx/pseuds/velvetjinx
Summary: Shuri is amazing. And she really, really enjoys winding up her big brother.





	Is This U

**Author's Note:**

> Shuri was maybe my favorite character in the whole Black Panther movie because she is amazing and funny and smart and an amazing role model for kids. So obviously this means I had to write a fic about her being awesome.
> 
> A million billion thanks to brooklynbetty for the sensitivity read, and also to whatthefoucault for letting me bounce ideas off her.

Shuri was in the middle of some pretty sensitive calculations when T’Challa stormed in, a face like thunder. 

“Shuri,” he said, his voice deceptively soft, “why do you keep sending me pictures of black cats with the caption ‘is this you’? You know they’re not me.”

“I don’t know that,” Shuri replied distractedly as she worked out a complicated equation in her head. “They could be.”

“They are _not_ ,” T’Challa said emphatically. “I am the Black _Panther_ , not the Black Kitten!”

“I don’t know, I can see a striking similarity.”

“They’re not me! Stop sending me the damn photos! I knew I shouldn’t have gotten everyone a StarkTech phone.”

“Okay,” Shuri said, shrugging. “Now can you leave? I’m working on some complicated calculations for the maglev to make it run more efficiently.”

T’Challa took a deep breath. “Fine. But you promise you’ll stop?”

“I promise,” Shuri replied, crossing her fingers where her brother couldn’t see them.

“Okay.” He kissed her on the cheek. “Let me know when you’ve finished my suit upgrade.”

“Uh huh,” Shuri replied, head already back in her calculations.

As soon as he had left, Shuri picked up her phone and sent him a picture of a black cat licking its genitals with the caption, “But seriously, is this u?”

She could hear his screech down the corridor and smiled. He was so easy to wind up, she figured she could get some good mileage out of this.

***

Shuri looked up as her mother came into the study where she and T’Challa had been sitting reading together. 

“Shuri, a word please?” her mother said sternly, and Shuri thought back to anything naughty she might have done, coming up blank.

“Yes, mother?”

Her mother cleared her throat. “I know you like to tease your big brother, but I think it is probably best if you do not send him memes of black cats in the middle of a council meeting. Especially not ones that say, ‘I don’t always rule countries, but when I do, I”—her mother coughed delicately—“‘suck at it’.”

Shuri blushed. “Okay, mother.”

“Thank you.”

As soon as their mother had gone, Shuri marched over to where T’Challa was sitting with his book, grinning to himself. She punched him hard on the arm.

“Ow!”

“Tattletale,” she said with a huff.

“I’ll tell her you punched me as well,” he told her.

“Oh, sure, run to mummy and tell her that your little sister who is half your size punched you and made you cry,” Shuri retorted teasingly, and T’Challa glared at her.

“Brat.”

“Loser.” As T’Challa opened his mouth to speak, she bowed. “Your majesty,” she said quickly, and ran from the room, determined to get the last word.

***

“I don’t see why I have to meet the broken white boy’s friends,” Shuri whispered as their aircraft landed outside the large compound.

“They’re not all exactly his friends, so don’t mention him while we’re here,” T’Challa murmured back. “And you’re here because Tony Stark wanted to meet my genius little sister.”

As they walked off the aircraft, a man in sunglasses with dark hair and a smart suit walked up to meet them. “Your majesty. Your highness. Welcome to the Avengers’ compound.”

T’Challa nodded. “This is my sister, Shuri. Shuri, this is Tony Stark.”

Shuri smiled at him. “Thank you for the phones, Mr Stark. I have found them very useful for messaging my brother with important photographs.”

T’Challa glared at her and she hid a smirk. “I’m pleased to hear that, your highness,” Mr Stark said. “But please, call me Tony. If you’d like to follow me inside, I have many things to show you.” As they walked, Tony smiled at Shuri. “So you liked the phones? They’re the latest technology.”

“Yes,” Shuri replied. “I like mine even better since I made some modifications to the hardware so my battery lasts longer.”

Tony stopped in his tracks. “How much longer? That battery was built to last four days.”

“And now it lasts two weeks. Oh, is that your jet?” Shuri ran towards it, looking it over. “Oh, this is so quaint! I’m guessing you even use manual steering. It must be quite an old model.”

“Uh, no, that’s brand new.”

Shuri looked wide eyed at her brother, and T’Challa grinned at her from behind Tony’s back. “Oh. I see. Sorry.”

“That’s fine. Uh, would you like to see the latest Iron Man suit?” Tony asked, and Shuri nodded. 

“Of course!”

The suit was, disappointingly, nothing special. It was made from regular metal and was somewhat clunky. Still, not wanting to be rude, Shuri smiled and nodded when he showed it to her. “This is latest StarkTech, so it’s not only smarter and more robust but when charged it lasts a whole lot longer,” Tony explained. 

“Interesting. May I see your lab?”

Tony looked disappointed that she didn’t have more to say about his suit, but nodded. 

The lab was quaint and fairly low tech compared to what Shuri was used to, but she found some interesting points and discussed them with Tony. There was also an old robotic arm called Dum-E who was quite adorable. Shuri told Dum-E so, and the robot curled away bashfully. 

“I hope to see your lab some day, your highness,” Tony told her, and Shuri nodded.

“You would love it. I can control everything from there, including our maglev system.”

Tony paused. “Your what?”

“Maglev system. It’s what we use for transporting the vibranium.”

“But. But maglev systems don’t work that efficiently.”

“Really?” Shuri asked, confused. The colonizer had said something similar when he’d been in her lab. “Why not?”

“We don’t yet have the technology to make them run properly,” Tony explained. 

“Ah. Well, we do! So you’ll enjoy that.”

By the end of the tour, Tony had less of a spring in his step than he had done when they had started, and Shuri was starting to get bored. 

“Do you want to meet the team?” Tony asked eventually.

“Yes, please. I hear you have a man made of vibranium?”

“Yes!” Tony perked up immediately. “We call him Vision. Terrible cook and still doesn’t quite understand using doors rather than walking through walls, but he’s great to have in a battle.”

The ‘team’ consisted of a man using a mechanical walking aid, introduced as ‘Rhodey’, and Vision, who was quite imposing with his bright red hue. Shuri spent an hour quizzing Vision about his powers, some of which seemed to come from the vibranium, and some of which seemed to come from the stone in his forehead. Shuri was more interested in that than all the StarkTech she had seen, and had a thousand questions, but Vision seemed not to know exactly what it was that had given him life, only that it had. 

“I understood that the Avengers was a bigger team than this?” Shuri said to Tony, whose face fell. 

“Yeah, we had a… disagreement. Many of them were locked up, although I’ve heard that they escaped and are now in hiding from the government.”

“Yes, I heard about this disagreement,” Shuri said sternly. “You blew off a man’s arm at the shoulder.”

Tony went even paler. “How do you…?”

“My brother told me all about it,” Shuri said quickly. “But this is resolved now?”

“Not… exactly.”

Shuri frowned. “Surely—”

“Shuri,” T’Challa said quietly, and Shuri subsided. “Thank you for your time, Tony. We shall have to set up a time for you to visit Wakanda.”

“Thank you, your majesty. It was good to meet you, your highness.”

Shuri smiled sunnily at him and boarded the aircraft, taking a deep breath when she was back on board. 

When the door was closed behind them, she looked at her brother and they both burst into laughter. “You did not tell me just how technologically behind this so called genius Stark was!” she said, chuckling. “You could have warned me!”

“I’m sorry! I didn’t realize!” T’Challa replied, laughing with her. “I thought he’d have something a little more advanced in there.”

Shuri didn’t stop laughing to herself until they were back in Wakanda.

***

Of course, Tony was invited to Wakanda for a return visit, and he brought Rhodey and Vision with him. She made Sergeant Barnes stay in his tent, explaining who was coming, and he agreed readily. 

When they stepped out of their jet, she saw the three of them look around in awe at the sights, and hid a smirk. 

“Welcome to Wakanda,” T’Challa said, greeting them. They all shook hands, and then T’Challa turned to Tony. “What would you like to see first?”

“The lab, please,” Tony replied, and Rhodey and Vision smiled indulgently.

“Of course,” Shuri said. “Please, follow me.”

She led them to her lab, and showed them around. It took a considerable amount of time, as Tony asked questions about everything, then looked dumbstruck at her replies. “This shouldn’t be possible,” he kept murmuring. It was getting a little wearing.

T’Challa could obviously see that his sister’s patience was wearing thin, and so encouraged them to go and have something to eat. As they left, T’Challa grinned at her, and Shuri grinned back. Tony Stark was annoying, but it was funny how even the simplest things seemed amazing to him. He was like a child. 

After they had eaten, Tony approached her again. “Your highness, if it’s not too much trouble, I would be very grateful if you would show me how you extended the battery life on your StarkPhone?”

Shuri shrugged. “Sure. It was really easy, though.”

Tony looked at her helplessly. “Easy?”

“Mhm. Come back down to the lab with me and I can show you.” They traipsed back to the lab, and Shuri took out her phone. “Just one second,” she said, and sent a picture of a black cat getting humped by a tabby to her brother with the caption, “No but really this is u, right?” She turned back to Tony, ignoring the pinging of her phone with her brother’s angry replies. 

She took Tony step by step through the process of increasing the battery life, and Tony stared astonished at the phone.

“That… that was simple. Why didn’t I think of it before?” Tony said quietly, sounding a little like a small child who has just been told it’s bedtime. 

“It could happen to anyone,” Shuri said soothingly. “Shall I take you back to my brother now?”

“Please.”

When they had returned, she took her brother aside. “I think I broke Tony,” she whispered, and T’Challa looked over to where Tony was standing with Rhodey, looking downcast. 

“He’ll live,” T’Challa replied, amused. 

When it came time for their visitors to go, they practically had to peel Tony away onto the jet. Shuri and T’Challa stood waving until they were out of sight. 

“Be honest,” T’Challa said quietly. “How much fun did you have today?”

Shuri grinned. “So much. Do you think he’ll be back?”

“Not for a while. I think you bruised his ego quite a bit, and considering how big that ego is it may take him some time to recover.” He took her arm with his. “Now what do you think about maybe making my suit a bit warmer in case I have to fight in a snowy climate again?”

As they debated the pros and cons, Shuri looked out over the kingdom. It really was the most perfect country. She certainly couldn’t ask for anything more.


End file.
